Brian Reed: The 'Dark' Future of Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel #38
MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR MS. MARVEL AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Carol Danvers announced months ago, to readers' surprise, that she was going to kill Norman Osborn.

But it looks like someone will kill her first.

In a previously unexplained bit of non-sequential storytelling, Ms. Marvel
writer Brian Reed shocked readers by showing a scene from the future in
issue #31 where Carol visits her dying father and declares her intent
to murder Osborn, long before anyone knew why.

Since then, the Ms. Marvel comic has been building a case
against Osborn that stems from Carol's military years, exploring the
mystery of a secret yet powerful terrorist project linked to both the
CIA and Osborn. And with this week's Dark Avengers #1, the
conflict between Carol Danvers and Osborn escalated as he placed Carol
under arrest just before she escaped out a window, then let Moonstone
wear the title of Ms. Marvel.

Now the shocking revelation that Carol wants to kill Norman makes
sense. But Reed isn't done with the shockers, as readers of this
interview will see. Newsarama talked to Reed about Carol's future -- or
as we found out, her lack of one -- as she resigns from the Avengers
and pursues her vendetta against Osborn. It's all coming to a fatal end
for Carol soon, Reed said, and by issue #38, Moonstone will not only
wear the title of Ms. Marvel in Dark Avengers, but in the Ms. Marvel title too.

Newsarama: Let's just get something done right up front, Brian, because the question will be inevitable. During Civil War,
Ms. Marvel followed the letter of the law even when it didn't
particularly make her feel comfortable to do so. Why isn't she
following the letter of the law and following Norman Osborn the way she
followed Tony Stark?

Brian Reed: Well, Tony was very much the law and was doing the
will of the people. And when Norman comes along... yes, Norman is doing
the same thing, but Norman has a very different history. Tony, for a
very long time, saved the world. Norman threw teenaged girls off
bridges.

NRAMA: A bit of a difference. And as readers of your series have
been seeing, there's more to her hatred of Norman Osborn than just
recent events. How does what happened in Dark Avengers fit together now with what we've been reading in Ms. Marvel?

BR: The Avengers have finally caught up to my book, as far as the timeline goes. In Ms. Marvel #31, Carol Danvers went home because her dad was dying. That happened post-Secret Invasion and post-Dark Avengers #1.

NRAMA: Aaah... that explains the declaration about Norman Osborn at the end.

BR: Yeah. Thats why she said she was going to kill Norman
Osborn. And a big part of us doing that was so that people would say,
"Wait. What?"

NRAMA: So Ms. Marvel #31, which came out a few months ago, takes place after Dark Avengers,
and we've had a few flashback issues since then that explored military
missions from Carol's past. Are we finding out now that all these
things tied together?

BR: Yes. This is all part of a huge plan that is coming together for the reader now. Everything in Ms. Marvel from Issue #1 was leading up to Secret Invasion. It was all about her big awakening as the "hero that I can be." But post-Secret Invasion,
since issue #31, it's been all about who Carol Danvers was before she
was Ms. Marvel. Everyone knows the story about Rogue stealing her
powers, but her past has never really been explored. And this was our
time between the end of Secret Invasion and the start of Dark Reign
that I had this chance to go back and explore that.

Nobody had ever deeply explored Carol's spy days, and it's a really
cool element of her character that no other superhero has. We've got
Nick Fury and Black Widow, but they're not out there doing superhero
things -- they're spies. So this was a chance to go in and do something
about how she's actually a superhero/spy. And as we see over the next
issue or so that winds up tying into all the Norman Osborn stuff.

NRAMA: During the flashbacks, Carol has investigated something
called "Project: Ascension," which she discovered after being shot down
in Afghanistan and tortured by a man named Ghazi Rashid. During this
storyline, are you saying we've been getting little pieces of a greater
puzzle?

BR: There have been clues planted in every issue as to what's going on. And it all ties to Norman Osborn.

NRAMA: You've been using a lot of non-sequential storytelling
here, flashing forward to that scene where she sees her dying father,
then flashing back to her days in the military and Special Ops. It was
a little confusing for awhile there how it all fit together, but it's
all leading toward Dark Reign?

BR: Yep. It actually all makes sense and pays off now. In the opening of Ms. Marvel #36, you see how Norman Osborn figures into the puzzle. But all the hints have been there all along.

NRAMA: So over the last few months leading up to Dark Avengers, we've been seeing her justification for killing Norman Osborn?

BR: We've been seeing pieces of it. We've now seen his takeover of the Avengers, but we've also got the revelation [in Ms. Marvel #33]
that one of the bad guys she's been dealing with in her series, Ghazi
Rashid, has ties to Norman Osborn. And we're going to find out that
Norman didn't just let her walk out of Avengers Tower and call it a day
after their confrontation in Dark Avengers. He went after her.

NRAMA: That's not surprising. Over the next few issues, what are we going to see as Carol heads toward this showdown with Osborn?

BR: Over the next few issues, we'll see all of Carol's past
catching up to her present. We'll understand why I've been doing these
flashback stories. It has a lot to do with what the present is all
about. And some very bad things happen, and Carol dies.

NRAMA: Wait. What???

BR: As of Ms. Marvel #37, as seen in Dark Avengers #1, Moonstone is Ms. Marvel. And where we go from there is a whole new, very scary place.

NRAMA: There will still be a Ms. Marvel comic book after Carol's death?

BR: There will still be a Ms. Marvel comic book and the
numbering will continue forward. But Moonstone as Ms. Marvel, is the
new lead character. In Issue #37, we see the baton passed.

NRAMA: This is a pretty mind-boggling revelation, Brian. Have
you known about this eventuality for your lead character for awhile now?

BR: The idea of bringing Moonstone into the book has existed for
a long time. But the idea to move Carol aside and let Moonstone take
over was something that cropped up a little later. I thought of it one
night, and although it seemed to make sense with Carol's story and what
was happening, I initially thought, "Well, that's insane!" And then I
told [Marvel Editor] Steve Wacker about it and he said, "No! It makes
sense! Do it!" And it really did make sense. As I went back and looked
at the issues I've done in this title, I realized that I've
unintentionally planted the seeds for this from the beginning. I had
given myself this plot without realizing I'd done it. For me, that's
when I enjoy the stories the most, when they surprise me. And I figure
they'll also surprise everyone else.

NRAMA: You said earlier that Carol's been on a journey toward discovering "the hero she could be" ever since Ms. Marvel #1. Can you describe that journey? And how has the knowledge of her upcoming death influenced how you've written it?

BR: The death itself goes back into the Cru issues. Cru was an
alien being who had lived inside her since issue #3. We got that alien
out of her somewhere around the teen issues. When her and Cru
separated, Cru warned Carol saying, "You think this is a good thing,
but really, it's not. Bad things are coming."

When Secret Invasion came along, Carol pushed herself very hard. And if you look at Secret Invasion, there is a hole of time where Carol disappears.

NRAMA: She fights the Skrulls in Manhattan, but then we don't see her for awhile, right?

BR: Yeah. The end of my issues is only the end of the first day
of the invasion. The invasion goes on for around 72 hours. And then
she's back in the Central Park fight. So where was she in between?
That's part of what we're going to be exploring over a couple of
issues, filling in that time gap and showing that this is where bad
things started to happen. And all of that ties into the current arc of
Ms. Marvel, and leads directly to Moonstone taking over the mantle.

NRAMA: You said that Norman Osborn didn't just "let" her fly out
the window and that he's going after her. Is she, at the same time,
plotting against him?

BR: Oh yeah. That's what this current arc is all about,
discovering that Norman has been behind what has been going on. And
while she thought she was rallying her troops to go after him, he was
already coming after her.

NRAMA: When this series started -- and I know this is often the label of death for comics -- but when it first
started, Ms. Marvel could be labeled as a light-hearted, "fun" comic.
But while it's kept many of the fun elements, it's gotten more and more
complex as we've gotten closer to Dark Reign, hasn't it?

BR: Yeah. We're certainly going a new direction. We're saying,
if you haven't given the book a chance in awhile, come on over, 'cause
things are happening.' But it was this fun thing for me, trying to
appease both the Ms. Marvel action/adventure mindset while doing this
darker story.

NRAMA: In Dark Avengers #1, we also see a new version of
Captain Marvel join the Dark Avengers. How is it for Ms. Marvel to see
him as part of the Avengers?

BR: We’ll actually be dealing with that in Ms. Marvel #35.
She sees it and feels like she should comment on it and do something
about it, but she doesn't really understand why she has that emotion.
So when she sees that this guy has become Captain Marvel, she's
surprised by it. We also see that the Church of Hala from the Captain
Marvel mini-series is still going, but church attendance is dwindling
because Captain Marvel himself has disappeared. It has almost become
the cult that everyone accused it of being. And when everyone sees this
new Captain Marvel, their reaction is that this guy is not Captain
Marvel; this guy is going to kill us all. So there is a mass suicide at
one of the Church of Halas. Carol goes to see what it is all about.
She's not even sure why she's there. She just knows that it was done in
Captain Marvel's name, and that's her name, so she feels like she has
to see it. And when she gets there, the new Captain Marvel's there too.
They have a confrontation, and we learn what he meant to both of them.

NRAMA: With Moonstone taking over the mantle of Ms. Marvel now, will you be writing a Moonstone/Carol Danvers meeting of some kind?

BR: Oh, it certainly seems like the thing to do, doesn't it?

NRAMA: It does.

BR: That's the fun thing about comic books. Anything can happen.

NRAMA: Carol's been acting very strange in her last few issues.
And there are a lot of unanswered questions as we move forward. Is this
all going to be resolved in the next few issues before she dies?

BR: Every question I've raised gets answered in the next three
issues, leading up to the end of Carol's current story and the
beginning of Dark Reign in Ms. Marvel.

NRAMA: So let's review what you've got coming up, Brian. Carol Danvers' death is going to be in issue #37?

NRAMA: If somebody would pick up Ms. Marvel with the next issue, which is Ms. Marvel #35, would that person be able to understand the story starting there?

BR: Right now is a great time to jump on because we're ramping
up to all this stuff. You'll be there just in time to see how the whole
train falls apart. Issues #35, #36 and #37 are the death of Carol
Danvers. And in Ms. Marvel #38, the Dark Reign begins in
earnest. But the next three issues are where we see Norman play his
hand. We see that he's been behind things since the end of Secret Invasion in Ms. Marvel's book.